Raul Ferrer Conill

My research interests focus on the intersecting points of three different fields: journalism and the news industry, technology, and gamification. I am particularly interested in new patterns of production, distribution, and consumption of news in the emerging mobile society; the applications of gamification to engage and create new habits of news engagement; the use of native advertising in digital journalism; and any other form of datafication processes in media and communications.

The narrative of my dissertation focuses on the future of journalism and media, and the potential benefits and dangers that the enhancement of gamified approaches can bring to the industry. Because gamification is a new trend, a proper empirical research could not only benefit academia, but also aim for business applicability in organizational environments. As such, my PhD research will address the following practical and meta-theoretical questions: What are the theoretical and practical implications of applying gamification in news production context? Why do institutions adopt gamified experiences in news contexts? And how do journalists make sense of these applications?
Challenge accepted!

I'm involved (teach and/or grading) in the following courses:

• Electronic business and enterprise systems (master’s course)(ISAD27)
• Media and online cultures (master’s course)(KVVS112) – Jyväskylä University
• ICT and social change (MKGB71) – Course convenor
• Digital aesthetics (MKGB60) – Course convenor
• Strategic digital communication (MKGB62)
• Comunicación y ciudadanía digital (Communication and digital citizenship) (SEJ061) – Cádiz University
• Web and digital image (MKGA43)
• Web production (MKGA60)
• Introduction to Media and Communication Studies (MKGA01)
• Business by web and web analytics (ISGA97)
• Bachelors thesis advisor

I am chair of Karlstad University Graduate Students' Association; vice-chair of YECREA; and student representative for ICA's Journalism Studies division; I am a member of NODE, the Ander Centre for Research on News and Opinion in the Digital Era and the Geomedia research group.

I have reviewed articles for the journals Journalism Studies, Mobile Media& Communication journal, Digital Journalism, International Journal of Advertising, and Commons; as well as conferences such as ICA, ECREA, and AoIR.

ORCID: 0000-0002-0501-2217
ResearcherID: G-3347-2014

Originally from Barcelona, Raul Ferrer has long stopped referring to himself in third person.
My academic background is within economics and business studies: bachelors degree in Business Science, advanced bachelors degree in Business Administration, and an advanced bachelors degree in Research and Marketing Techniques.
I hold a Master's of Science in Global Media Studies (IT major), and a Master's of Arts in Project Management.
As a result of having a binational background and experiencing the joy of living abroad, I speak five languages: Spanish, Catalan, English, Swedish and Greek. This was accidental and unintended.
Professionally, I have extended experience in the field of IT, with several years as a web designer and developer.
When not working, I tend to be working.
Feel free to approach me with cookies

• Ferrer Conill, R. & Tandoc, E. (2018). The audience-oriented editor. Making sense of the audience in the newsroom. Digital Journalism, 6:4, 436-453. DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2018.1440972

• Ferrer Conill, R. (2017). Quantifying journalism? A study on the use data and gamification to motivate journalists. Television and New Media, 18:8, 706-720. DOI: 10.1177/1527476417697271

• Ferrer Conill, R. (2016).  Camouflaging church as state: An exploratory study of journalism’s native advertising. Journalism Studies, 17:7, 904-914. DOI:10.1080/1461670X.2016.1165138.

• Handler, R. & Ferrer Conill, R. (2016). Open Data, Crowdsourcing and Game Mechanics. A case study on civic participation in the digital age. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 25:2, 153-166. DOI 10.1007/s10606-016-9250-0